St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-13

| his authority, took me into his care and
introduced me to his tent. / was dying
! with thirst and asked for water. 1t was
| brought in wooden bowl by girl
completely naked. drank with avidity.
When the news of my capture spread
| the MOors arrived from all parts to look
at me. They were dressed in the same
manner as the first, with long hair and
| faces yelled, and were fully armed, each
| having gun beside daggerS at his side.
| They embraced my host, and, seating
| themselves in circle, Intercepted me
| at length, asking all sorts of questions,
but | was very reticent. desiring to play
! faithfully my part as MnSsulman.
! When j insisted on my believing i'll
their creed, they replied. eXasperated:
But MuSSulman does not arrive by
| the sea-" Il am a slave of God. He
| is most wise" l replied, with the am
biguity characteristic of Arab dialogue.
AIy answer did not diSpel their sus-
| which they riyeted on my legs round
the ankles. When L was secured
four or five young men invaded
! the tent, demanding a share of the
booty. and as my captorS did not wish
| to part. they exclaimed, ''Ah. well. we
will strangle the Christian" violently
Selling me. just had time to crawl to
d stake of the tent. to which l chung
with all my might. while Ibraham seized
| his gnn and turned out the assailants
very quickly, declaring he would shoot
the first who violated the hospitality of
| his tent. The other MOOrs continued
the disturbance until he drove them
away to avoid quarrel. The noise in
| creased and / heard a gunshOt. Dur
| ing this disturbance outside, the women
1 tod Inv tho OH nf fbn tn
! come and examine me, questioning me
| on all sorts of subjects, and in spite of
| the custom of the Arabs. which inter-
diets to the women contact even with
the clothes of men, they touched my
| skin to assure themselves that my phys
| ical constitution did not differ from that
| of the MOorS. "Do not go out" they
| cried, ''Or
THEY WILL. KILL YOU
pointing significantly to their threats.
Toward evening Ibrahaim entered
| and informed me 1 must consider my
| self his prisoner until proved myself
to be really MuSsulman. The night
came on quickly. The f1Ocks entered
the encampment. The camels were
ranged and knelt in front of each tent,
while the sheep and goats took their
place behind. Every reghaim tent had
a blazing fire of brushwoOd to itself,
round which were Squatted. waiting the
hour of retirement, all the members of
the family, with faces and heads COW
cred. and with bare legs. The children
were absolutely nude. AT S o'clock the
slaves and dependents began to milk
the camelS. To each was handed dish
of milk, and, after making their evening
prayer, they laid themselves down on
| their mats alongside of each other and
sought rest i'll sleep. For myself,
broken down by emotion and pain. |
closed my eyes and fell into heavy and
troubled sleep, and thus | spent my first
night in the desert.
The morning after my capture, was
early awakened by Ibrahaim, who called
us to prayer. | dragged myself YEARLY
along, and, placing myself at the side
of my host, prayed the prayer of sun
rise. This finished, he turned to me
and said: Il am content with YOU;
would to God you were a Mussulman."
During the morning | was worried
about my boxes which | had hid, for |
knew if they fell into the hands of my
first asSailantS, they were gone forever,
while if | communicated my secret to
Ibrahaim, he might have more respect
for my condition. Some time after |
had told him the story. he appeared at
the tent with a saddled camel for
my use, i'll order that [
search for them. | mounted this
animal and proceeded in the direction
whence had first come. the MoOrS fully
armed, going with us, while behind fol-
lowed a whole troop of women and
children in hopes of getting something
out of the journey. We followed the
coast. but as we could not find the booty
they got impatient and called out, ''He
deceives us, this Christian dog, and
wishes to take us to place where his
friends are in ambush to kill US" and
menacingly shook their daggerS in my
face. After half an hour their doubts
increased. and Ibrahaim began to share
the sentiments of his companions. in
forming me that unless the cases were
found [ should be killed. One of the
more energetic of the Arabs stopped
my camel, and, climbing up. placed
his
COLD GIISTENING BLADE
against my throat. Just as | gave my
self up as lost the most forward of the
group discovered the missing cases. |
was Immediately left alone: all. clutch
ing their bare daggerS, threw them
selves on the booty. which they divided
among them. When they had apprO-
priated my all. we retraced our steps to
the camp. Now was my greatest danger.
| was worth no more to them alive, but
was rather charge on lbrahaim. Dead
| should cost them nothing. All now
seemed against Inc. lbrahaim included,
but he resolved to take me with him.
On entering the camp we were passed
by two men mounted on white camelS
and so yelled as to hide their features;
their appearance. however, indicated
that they were men of position. They
demanded an explanation of the whole
affair. On hearing the truth Sid Ahmed
el-Batei for it was the prince hlmSelf)
and his secretary dismOunted and EN-
tered the tent. He was still young and
his physiOgnomy very pleasing. Shak-
ing hands he gave me the '''Salamu Ali
kOm'' (the peace of God be on YOU for
the first time, and asked me who | was,
my name. position and country. When
| replied, he said: My brother, as
thou sayest thou art Mussulman, glory
be to God: but if thou art deceiving US
may the mercy of God pardon you and
lead you into the way of TRUTH and.
turning to the MOorS. he said: You
have been too hasty i'll despOiling and
putting in irons this man. Would to
God that his troubles do not accuse you
in the day of Judgment. Do you not
fear to cause such suffering to one of
your brothers," When he had spoken
he remounted and rode off. leaving me
with painful impression. l felt had
lost my first friend among the Arabs.
Next day | received a visit from
Shirt. or holy man. named Sid Mann
NUT, who questioned me infinitely. and
evidently did not think much of my Or
thodoxy. though in face of my aflirma-
lions he could not pronounce what [
was, and declared only one man could
settle the question-Shirif Sheikh Mu-
lainin. the grand prince and CHIEF of the
nOmadic Arab tribes, to whose camp.
situated few days march eastward,
we set out the same evening. This i'm
pOrtant parsonage exercises great moral
L, l. .,.nl, c.rnLitnd H.-ith tln